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8 Jan 2017, 13:31 (Ref:3701011) | #1 | ||
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First Lap Human Error at Le Mans
For anyone who's been lucky enough to be track side at the start of the world's greatest motor race, the start of Le Mans is one of the most dramatic spectacles in motor sport - and that's despite the fact that it's very rare that anything happens of significance, at least as far as the main protagonists are concerned, within the opening 8 miles of the race.
The lack of opening lap drama is something quite extraordinary. In a typical Formula One season, you could probably expect 4-5 incidents on just the first corner alone, in a field of just 22 cars. Of course, Le Mans can never be won on the first lap and drivers will be doing everything they can to keep it on the grey stuff - but the fact that year after year, every single driver seemingly drives without fault on the opening lap, without so much as a gentleman driver locking up with cold brakes, is something special. As far as I'm concerned, the last non-mechanical incident to occur on the first lap was 18 years ago, when Hiroki Kato span his BMW V12 LMR at the Dunlop Chicane: https://youtu.be/CYvdNNjt5vo?t=28m50s I'd be interested to know if this is indeed the last first-lap incident - have you seen something during the first lap that the cameras didn't catch? |
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8 Jan 2017, 14:52 (Ref:3701028) | #2 | ||
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Does the mere fact of the JLOC Lambo starting the race count as a woeful 'human error'.....?
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280 days...... |
8 Jan 2017, 15:11 (Ref:3701032) | #3 | ||
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8 Jan 2017, 15:23 (Ref:3701033) | #4 | ||
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Assuming my original post is correct, 791 cars (possibly minus the JLOC lambo) have successfully completed the opening lap of Le Mans since 1999.
That's a total of 10,361 perfectly negotiated kilometres at racing speed, which would take you a quarter of the way around the equator. Or from Le Mans to New York and back. Thus creating one of the most trivial Le Mans stats. |
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8 Jan 2017, 15:48 (Ref:3701037) | #5 | ||
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There was this from 2007 from the Peugeot, but i barely think it qualifies if at all.
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8 Jan 2017, 16:01 (Ref:3701042) | #6 | ||
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Quote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u30V7pN9h2Y Bourdais went off at Dunlop on lap 1, handing the lead to Audi. The only thing that stopped that being a real incident was luck, as he was out of control and hit a bollard. Not the best start to an endurance race. |
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8 Jan 2017, 16:15 (Ref:3701045) | #7 | ||
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280 days...... |
8 Jan 2017, 16:20 (Ref:3701052) | #8 | |
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In 2006 didn't JLOC do not too bad? In 2009 i heard stories they were using road car parts from club members in the car... Wasn't 2007 only a couple of laps as well?
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8 Jan 2017, 16:22 (Ref:3701054) | #9 | |
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There were reports at the time that pulling in at the end of the first lap was a condition of them being allowed to start the race.
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8 Jan 2017, 17:48 (Ref:3701071) | #10 | |||
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Quote:
But when does a slight moment become an incident? |
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8 Jan 2017, 17:50 (Ref:3701072) | #11 | |||
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Akrapovic is right, JLOC were respectable in 2006. They ran without issues well into the Sunday and as I recall they weren't classified because the car didn't complete the final lap. That was probably why they were given the benefit of the doubt next time round. |
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8 Jan 2017, 18:09 (Ref:3701077) | #12 | |||
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Quote:
... and may have been rebuilt to enough of a state that it could do one slow race lap 2 years later, or so the RSC chassis archive says. |
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8 Jan 2017, 18:14 (Ref:3701079) | #13 | ||
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But then again, the only effect was losing a couple of spots. That's not a huge effect over 24 hours. Your call! |
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8 Jan 2017, 18:55 (Ref:3701083) | #14 | ||
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Le Mans 1997, a Panoz DAMS has hit a car just before the start and loses a frontlights protection :
https://youtu.be/6lq9YNQ22rQ?t=4m7s |
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8 Jan 2017, 20:19 (Ref:3701102) | #15 | ||
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Didn't someone demolish an Aston on the first lap in 2007/2008 or something?
I remember seeing it on TV, and the cars were bunched up, so it must have been very early. |
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8 Jan 2017, 21:03 (Ref:3701112) | #16 | |
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How far did Nigel Mansell get? 2nd or 3rd lap?
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8 Jan 2017, 21:13 (Ref:3701115) | #17 | ||
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Did Mansell's Ginetta make it round the first lap in 2010 or was that a lap one issue?
Sticking to that theme was it that year that Autocon failed if not on lap one then not a million miles afterwards? |
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8 Jan 2017, 21:33 (Ref:3701119) | #18 | |||
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Laps two and three have not gone without incident, and that's probably a measure of just how carefully everyone drives the first lap. Think it was the third lap in 2001 where there was a huge pile-up caused by a flash flood. |
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8 Jan 2017, 21:34 (Ref:3701120) | #19 | |||
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The late 1990s were chaos. How do you manage that?! |
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9 Jan 2017, 08:11 (Ref:3701192) | #20 | ||
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John Woolfe 1st lap 1969
Roger Dorchy 2nd lap? 1984 |
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9 Jan 2017, 09:13 (Ref:3701195) | #21 | ||
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The Autocon fiasco was lap 1 in 2010.
Mansell made it to lap 4. Both were mechanical failures of course. |
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9 Jan 2017, 11:13 (Ref:3701228) | #22 | ||
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Just gone and had a look, it was 2006, and one of Babini/Gollin/Pescatori put his Aston into the wall, but he managed to complete 3 laps first.
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9 Jan 2017, 14:34 (Ref:3701270) | #23 | |
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Julian Bailey in a Nissan slamming into the back of a Jaguar early enough in the race is one that springs to mind for me, don't think it was the first lap. Both cars out, T. Walkinshaw was not at all happy because it happened and so early in the race. The things he had to say about Bailey....
Not happy wither was Martin Donnelly as he was part of the Nissan crew and something similar happened at Daytona earlier the year when his car was wiped out early by another Jag (Daly and Roe I believe involved?). Donnelly didn't get to drive there either. 2 cars crashed, 3 Irishmen out as Donnelly commented at the time. It just wasn't meant to be..... |
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All the same, isn't there a grand oul stretch in the evenings... |
9 Jan 2017, 14:37 (Ref:3701271) | #24 | |||
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Quote:
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9 Jan 2017, 16:37 (Ref:3701300) | #25 | ||
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